Cooks Illustrated magazine features tried and tested recipes, equipment reviews and kitchen tips based on extensive real life testing in their 2,500 sq ft test kitchen. Completely free of advertising, it’s a little like Which for the kitchen.

As one reviewer said: “There’s no more authoritative food magazine. When Cook’s Illustrated endorses a cheesecake, it’s because its editors made 45 of them.”

Cracking the Paid Content Model Online

Clearly CI is a successful magazine built on unique, high-quality content. But what sets them apart for our pursposes is their ability to translate that success online.

Like Which.co.uk (a leading paid content website in the UK with over 200,000 subscribers), CooksIllustrated does not allow advertising – forcing them to focus on subscription sales to generate revenues.

And it’s working.

They launched video demonstrations of recipes in early 2007, combining some free content with access to the entire library available on a subscription basis. According to AudienceDevelopment.com, there are over 230,000 paid members, and roughly 40 percent of Web members subscribe to the magazine. At their advertised rate of $34.95 a year, that works out at a little over $8M in annual online revenues.

Lessons to Learn

So what are they doing right?

1. Focus on Content – High-quality, definitive and unique content is at the core of the business online and off.
2. Leverage Print – The website is a nice companion to the print edition and delivers real added value.
3. Repurposed Content – The online library includes 15 years worth of reviews, recipes and tips. As they produce new content for the print version, they can easily create video versions to continually add value to the online model.
   
   “With 15 years worth of recipes and techniques, the ability for a user to search through them with just the touch of a button is a huge value proposition … You just don’t want to have to thumb through all of your magazines at home.”
4. Use of Video – Recipes obviously lend themselves to video, CI has used this to its advantage, creating online content with a higher perceived value than simple text.

Even if you’re not in the publishing business, CI demonstrates clearly that people will pay for content online – provided they can’t get it free somewhere else.

This model could easily be adopted by any business that sells based on their ‘expertise’ – as either a new revenue stream or (by making it free) as a way of attracting potential clients and customers.

More: Article on AudienceDevelopment.com

In around 10 years, online retailer Zappos has gone from startup to $1 billion in sales. They’ve done this through smart strategy, remarkable customer service and a near fanatical devotion to the ‘culture’ of the company.

Funnily enough there are plenty of companies that would like to tap into a little of this online pixie dust. Executives from Southwest Airlines and Best Buy, amongst many others, have made the pilgrimmage to the Zappos HQ in Las Vegas to learn first hand what’s made Zappos the marketing, retail and internet darling it is.

Apparently what happens in Vegas, does not stay in Vegas.

Help for the Fortune 1 Million

But what if your budget doesn’t quite stretch to a trip to Sin City – or to a private consultancy session with the Zappos top brass?

Well, no problem. Back in late 2008 / early 2009 Zappos decided to launch ZapposInsights.com – a subscription site that allows anyone to take a sneak peek behind the curtains and learn from the Zappos team.

As CEO Tony Hsieh explains, the site is targeted at the “Fortune 1 million”  and is designed to be “something that’s accessible to almost any business.” And at a smidge under $40 a month, it is.

Features include:

• Video interviews with members of the Zappos team
• A resource library that includes materials that Zappos use in recruitment, training etc…
• A discussion forum
• The chance to ask questions, which are in turn answered with more videos

Could Your Business Do the Same?

In technical terms, there’s nothing particularly complicated (or expensive) about implementing a ZapposInsights.com. What’s needed is access to a market that trusts your expertise and the content to feed the membership site.

In this case the idea works because:

• Zappos have demonstrated their expertise in this market,
• that expertise is in demand
• and they have created a simple, profitable, model for sharing this expertise.

So if an online retailer can make this work, why not a business that’s already selling information and expertise – like an existing consultancy firm, or a print publisher in search of new ways of earning a crust?

Why not your business?